damaclese

hey Deb good to see are thread is still going strong!
you can soke it for 24hr is best but even a few hr will work poind water is good althou not as highly concintrated with the leveals that the pure microzomeals would have rember it will take a year or two to realy see a big difrince alsow know that you will have to add boi mass ever year in order to keep the afets strong so save that conpost and add it often! o i forgot add some powderd sea kelp you wont bealve how shock resistant and dark green your plants will be if you do i know this for a fact as i was doing my garden down the path i did one sid then ran out of the kelp when i got to the other side but whent ahed and did it any way the side with the kelp is already out growing the side with out it and i dont have to water it as oftin in the heat of the day

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CookieCows

Thank you!!

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damaclese

you all are probably going to know this but i found a good firt that has high concentrations of microsomals it Kellogg brand i just put some down for my late may early June feeding I'm sure its going to work grate you just have to make sure you dig it in as microsomals hate light also finished the east side Ventricosum garden added tones of bio char and lots of organics i mite have gotten a bit carried away with the compost but what can i say I'm a sucker for the stuff iv run out of kelp and am having a hard time finding cheaper stuff my last batch was practically 25cents a gram! i cant do that again any one know of a good source pleas post your progres i want to hear who all is doing this and we can share practical tips on how to make it easer after all its back braking work

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Lagniappe

My char cooked very slowly for a few weeks inder a few inches of dirt.


My video stopped and I didn't knowhow to splice it, so there's two parts. This was a wedge of wood taken out to fell a tree.

damaclese

well its early summer here in the Nevada Desert things are heating up we are moving precipitously close to 100 deg frh the bio char gardens look better then the non char ones and are so far requiring less water but its had to say as allot of the char gardens are new and to get plants threw their fist summer requires water ever day the adding of the Kellogg's firt has been a meager help to the plants in particular the giant Atlantic pumpkins are growth adduced LOL if you ever want to see a plant that grows as fast as a banana try the Atlantic pumpkins you will need at least a 1000squ ft for them of your not doing the char then i suggest you do there will be no regrets trust me

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Lagniappe

I threw part of a watermelon onto the char pile and had vines sprout all over. They love it! I can't even see the pile now, just melon vines.
The deer are creeping up and snipping them though.

damaclese

darn those deer i was right about the bio char its amazing stuff

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Lagniappe

I never knew watermelons grew so fast! We've always broadcasted the seeds in burned clear cuts and checked on them when it was time to harvest.
Here are the deer tracks:

A hand sized fruit that was thumb size 48 hours ago:

A little bit of the char pile is visable here:

Damage caused by the bastage deer:

A full veiw of the char-pile:

amazondk

Hello,

I was reading through this material which interests me a lot. Terra Preta is commonly found around the area where I live, which is Central Amazonia. In fact the village where I have a country place has the area in the middle of town made of the stuff. The area is used as an open square and to place soccer. But, it is mostly Terra Preta. I wish my land was.

Here is a picture of some exposed soil.

dk

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Don Kittelson
Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
A Cidade da Floresta e Capital da Amazônia

Richard

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_preta:

Terra preta soils are of pre-Columbian nature and were created by humans between 450 BC and AD 950.[5][6] The soil's depth can reach 2 metres (6 feet). Thousands of years after its creation it has been reported to regenerate itself at the rate of 1 centimetre per year[7] by the local farmers and caboclos in Brazil's Amazonian basin, and they seek it out for use and for sale as valuable compost.

Terra preta is characterized by the presence of low-temperature charcoal in high concentrations; of high quantities of pottery sherds; of organic matter such as plant residues, animal feces, fish and animal bones and other material; and of nutrients such as nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), calcium (Ca), zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn). It also shows high levels of microorganic activities and other specific characteristics within its particular ecosystem. It is less prone to nutrient leaching, which is a major problem in most rainforest soils.

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amazondk

Richard,

As you can note from my picture there are pottery shards showing. Paricatuba the village where my country place is has been inhabited I would say at least 5,000 years. There were up to 10 million people living in the Brazilian Amazon region at time of European contact. The area of the Rio Negro where Manaus is would have been very attractive as the black water rivers have very little insect pests and the muddy white waters of the Amazon nearby have very high fish populations and rich soil of the floodplain from sediment washed down from the Andes. The name Paricatuba comes form a plant used as a drug by indians called parica, and tuba means a place by the beach. In many places of the Amazonas areas of terra preta are popular with pot producers as the plants grows very well there. A few years ago I was looking for forest land for an investor in the States and visited a guys place in the eastern part of the state, he had 17 hectares of terra preta. He used to grow bananas there, and they did very well.

dk

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Don Kittelson
Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
A Cidade da Floresta e Capital da Amazônia

Lagniappe

I just brought in and cut open the first of my char melons. The rind was sort of thick but the flesh is sweeter than any that I can recall eating. Two thumbs up for the char melons!
There are several fruit ready to be picked and many younger ones on the vines. We may be sick of watermelon before the frost hits......but I doubt it.

amazondk

Terra preta is used for watermelons frequently here. That is interesting that yours would be of superior taste.

Here is another Terra Preta picture from another area. I mentioned this above which belongs to the guy who has 17 hectares of Terra Preta and used to grow bananas there. He said the place really produced bananas.

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Don Kittelson
Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
A Cidade da Floresta e Capital da Amazônia

damaclese

iv desided to go back in to the exsisting Bio Gardens and add more bio char i dont think i put enough in the first pass
i am alsow going to grind it up much finer

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CValentine

Are these what I'm looking for?? ~Cheryl

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damaclese

the kings-ford yes the other one no you don't know what they mix in any thing that says its a briquette just use 100% lump char coal make sure you brake it up in to as fine a powder as you can but don't spend all day trying to crush it just hit it until its fairly fine with some smallish lumps would do good for you i hope that it works for you i have plants that are growing new leafs out in 105deg in the bio char amended gardens iv never had this before its amazing i think you are going to be vary happy don't forget to inoculate it with Microsomal Bactria it speeds the process up quite a bit and add Kelp to the inoculation too

If i get a chance all post some pictures that show the groth of the bio char plating beds take care
PaulO

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CValentine

Thank you Paulo & everyone! ~Cheryl

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Bob

Put it in a nylon bag and run over it a few times with the truck. ....I'll be doing this in fall.

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damaclese

good advice bob!
i have a bicycle what should i do LOL don't answer!

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Richard

Humic acid is less expensive, less laborous, and more effective.

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